Veteran’s museum digital experience with virtual tour

What began as a straightforward brief revealed hidden veteran memories and opened the lower decks of a historic ship for all to see.

Client | USS KIDD Veteran’s Museum

Role | Sole Strategist: UX design, content strategy, information architecture, QC/testing

We partnered with the museum’s staff to build a website that honors USS KIDD’s history while ushering the museum into a successful future. The updated website serves as the museum’s foundation for shifting public perception, increasing credibility, and facilitating revenue generation. To do this, we focused on educating, informing, and exciting potential visitors across several distinct audience groups.

This website won a Gold Addy for Interface and Navigation.

A unique virtual tour opened KIDD’s lower decks to all.

Built in 1943, USS KIDD’s walkways are narrow ladders are steep, and ceilings are low. This means visitors with mobility concerns cannot venture below-deck. We prioritized a digital experience that brings KIDD’s wonders to these vulnerable audiences. When USS KIDD closed for the pandemic, its virtual tour became a lifeline for escape and exploration, experiencing over 10,000 visits in the first 6 months of quarantine.

Lost in HTML archives, I preserved dozens of veteran recollections – unique stories of life aboard DD-661.

While sorting through jumbles of raw code files, I stumbled upon anecdotes collected from sailors who served on USS KIDD throughout her years in the Navy. In this flood of memories, we hear the voices that once filled the halls of a ship now stocked with memorabilia. We proudly preserved these snippets in a place of respect on the new site alongside a featuring enabling new story submissions for those voices not yet heard.